The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center’s National Reentry Resource Center (NRRC) released a policy brief on Sept. 25, 2012, highlighting a number of states reporting significant, reductions in recidivism.

A recent escape by four inmates from Ottawa County Jail in Minneapolis, Kan., sparked a proposal by lawmakers to restrict the types of inmates the Kansas Department of Corrections could house in county jails. However, the amendment was rejected with a 79-41 vote.

States throughout the U.S. are experiencing record high incarceration rates — including Kansas. The state’s Department of Corrections is addressing the issue and working on predicting where more problems could lie in the future.

Contemporary correctional architecture tends to favor nondescript buildings that often resemble warehouses. Although communities invest heavily in those jails, correctional facilities often are excluded from the American city's sense of civic pride. One of the exceptions to the rule is the new Douglas County Jail in Lawrence, Kansas.

The solution to the overcrowding problem at a juvenile facility in Kansas was detention school — a facility that offers enough of a deterrent that youth do not want to return, while at the same time allowing them to avoid detention.